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Ex-Canadian ambassador questions cutting ties with Iran

Ending communication with Iran means Canada likely can’t play a peacekeeping role in future, says former Canadian ambassador to the country.

By Stephanie FindlayStaff Reporter

Fri., Sept. 7, 2012

As the Canadian government closes its embassy in Iran, a former ambassador to the country is questioning why Canada is cutting ties at a time when the international community needs more information about the country, not less.

John Mundy, a retired Canadian diplomat who was posted in Iran in 2007, said ending communication with the country could be a strategic misstep that undermines Canada’s role as an international player in the international peacekeeping effort preventing Iran from acquiring and deploying nuclear weapons.

“It’s a grave step and it can’t easily be reversed,” said Mundy, a visiting associate at the Centre for International Policy Studies at the University of Ottawa. “I know from experience it’s very, very tough to understand what’s going on in the country.”

Mundy has said it seems Prime Minister Stephen Harper is priming Canadians to support a military strike against Iran.

“This is the first time in decades that a Canadian prime minister, Liberal or Conservative, appears to be advocating approaches that reduce diplomatic opportunities for peace during an international crisis,” he wrote in an editorial column earlier this year. In the column, he argued Canada should remain faithful to the system of collective security under the UN charter and “tone down the rhetoric.”

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Ending diplomatic relations almost guarantees Canada’s internationally respected “middle-power diplomacy” skills cannot be used to solve what is being described as the biggest threat to international security today, said Mundy.

“Canada has a stake as a member of the international community, and a country with some influence in the world, to play into the (Iran) issue constructively and help move toward a peaceful resolution,” he said.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird gave many reasons for the government closing the embassy but none offered any insight as to why now as opposed to any other time.

“Foreign minister Baird alluded to the security of Canadian diplomats, that could justify taking this sort of step. But if that’s so, we should know more about it,” said Mundy.

“I hope we have a debate in the House of Commons about Canadian foreign policy towards Iran and Canadian foreign policy towards the national security issue that Iran poses,” he said.

Harper has been open about his feelings toward the Iranian government.

“I’ve watched and listened to what the leadership in the Iranian regime says, and it frightens me,” Harper said in a January interview with CBC.

“In my judgment, these are people who have a fanatically religious worldview,” he said. “Their statements imply to me no hesitation of using nuclear weapons if they see them achieving their religious or political purposes.”

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